


Unoriginal Sin

by Llybian



Series: Summer Nights [6]
Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Apples, Autumn, F/M, Romance, Temptation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 13:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11830170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llybian/pseuds/Llybian
Summary: “What are you doing here anyway?”Xellos shrugged. “Oh, just taking in the color and spectacle of the season, offering you fresh fruit. I know these probably seem like dastardly actions to you, but what can I say? I’m a monster.”





	Unoriginal Sin

Edie’s Garden and Orchard was a beautiful place to visit at any time of year, but Filia especially liked it in the fall. Every year she’d close up shop and fly herself, Val, Gravos, and Jillas down to Millspring County to visit. It was a lot of fun. It wasn’t exactly flower season, though a few late-lasting species hung around in the autumn, but it was the prime time to watch the trees change color.

Val picked out his pumpkin there every year. They’d always try to get big ones so they’d have more seeds to cook. And there were plenty of activities geared at kids his age including face painting, story-telling circles, and hayrides. Not to mention all the apple pie. Filia’s mouth watered when she thought about the apple pie. You couldn’t get apple pie like that anywhere else in the world but Edie’s.

The autumn weather was at its absolute best that day. Of course, Filia would’ve taken them down to Edie’s no matter what the weather. They’d braved wind storms and surprise blizzards to get there in the past and it was always worth it. But today it was as though the gods had given Filia the gift of the perfect fall weather for her family outing.

She was getting a little time to herself after helping Val roll a pumpkin almost as big as him over to the cart that held the other purchases from the to-die-for farmer’s market. Val had decided to try out the corn maze and Jillas and Gravos had gone with him. Knowing their sense of direction, it was likely Filia wouldn’t be seeing them again for awhile. But they’d promised to meet up later for apple pie and cider.

And while she loved being with Val, and Gravos, and Jillas, she was glad to get a little alone time. It was peaceful to just walk through the trees after all the commotion of the shop and of traveling. The leaves were red, almost the color of blood. It was odd though: in that context it was soothing.

Her path was suddenly cut off as an arm descended from the foliage above her, an apple held out in its gloved hand.

“Hungry?” it asked.

Filia glared sharply at the familiar figure of Xellos, lounging comfortably in the trees as only someone with no fear of gravity can. “Why do you have to ruin everything nice?” she demanded.

“Ruin? I thought I was helping,” he said with faux-innocence, as he offered the produce once more.

“You’re not supposed to pick those,” Filia said brushing away his hand as she went around it and continued walking down the path.

There was the sound of someone hitting the ground behind her. She willed herself not to turn around, decided she was going to turn around anyway, and did so. “Is that so?” Xellos asked.

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know!” Filia said, frustrated as always with how he pretended he wasn’t the most malignant thing to ever walk the earth. “There are signs everywhere!”

Indeed there were. "No Picking" signs dotted the landscape, with language variations underneath. They were the cause of paranoia in a lot of six-year-olds that weren’t very well-versed in how to behave in public.

Xellos threw the apple up in the air and idly caught it. “Would an apple orchard really forbid people from picking apples? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does since they’re selling them,” Filia pointed out. “They don’t want people just walking off with them without paying.”

“I wouldn’t expect capitalism to be so alive and well in a humble farmer’s market,” Xellos commented.

Filia hated when Xellos did this. She’d make a completely reasonable comment and somehow he’d suck her into a pointless argument. She could see a looming fight about economics around the corner and she wasn’t going to have any of that. So instead she just sat down on a stone bench and asked point-blank: “What are you doing here anyway?”

Xellos shrugged. “Oh, just taking in the color and spectacle of the season, offering you fresh fruit. I know these probably seem like dastardly actions to you, but what can I say? I’m a monster.”

“ _Ha!_ ” Filia said, crossing her arms. She didn’t believe any of it for a minute.

“You sure you don’t want it?” Xellos asked, holding out the apple once again.

Admittedly, Filia _was_ hungry. It was getting late and she was longing for that apple pie she’d promised to wait to eat with Val. And Edie’s apples _were_ the most delicious in the world. They clearly grew, not on water, but on some kind of nectar of the gods. Nevertheless she wasn’t about to accept one from Xellos. She had principles after all.

“Knowing you, there’s probably a worm in it,” she said sourly.

“Not unless one’s teleported in there,” Xellos said, examining the skin of the fruit through his closed eyes. “But you can check yourself if you want,” he said, tossing the apple her way.

She caught it, mostly on impulse and glared down at the red and noticeably shiny thing in her hand. It didn’t _appear_ to have any worm holes in it. “I’m not going to eat it anyway,” she sniped. “It’s against the rules.”

“No it’s not,” Xellos said, in clear defiance of reality.

“Of course it is!” Filia snarled, irritated by both Xellos and the fact that her hunger pangs were getting worse now that the apple was actually in her hands. “Can’t you read the signs?”

“I can,” Xellos said calmly. “But maybe _you_ can’t. They say you’re not allowed to _pick_ the apples. There’s nothing against eating them.”

Filia scowled at him. “Xellos, have you ever heard that saying ‘you’re following the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law?’”

“No. Why?” Xellos asked, taking the seat on the bench next to her completely uninvited.

Filia scooched slightly away from him. “I’m not going to eat it,” she said bluntly. “It’s _stealing_.”

“I didn’t know dragons were so wasteful,” Xellos commented craftily. “It’s already been picked so you might as well eat it.”

Filia was a small-business owner supporting four people. She was the queen of leftovers. She didn’t need Xellos lecturing her about frugality. “I’m not going to be a party to your immoral activity,” she said haughtily.

“Immoral activity?” Xellos repeated. “So do you think the fruit will turn to ash in your mouth just because it’s an ill-gotten gain?”

“It might,” Filia said, slightly sulkily.

“Actually, I’ve found that the opposite is true,” Xellos said. “Practically anything will become better if you break the rules to get it. You’ve risked more for it, so you add extra value in your mind. The harder something is to get, the more someone will naturally want it. Plus there’s an added thrill of danger.”

“Why,” Filia asked leadenly, “would I want danger in the produce department?”

Xellos tapped his cheek with his gloved index finger. “Because danger is exciting.”

Filia looked doubtfully at the apple and then back at Xellos. “Exciting’s not really what I look for in fruit,” she said.

“You might be missing out,” Xellos said hintingly.

“Oh come on,” Filia said. “You really think this apple will taste better than one I could buy with my hard earned money just because it’s stolen?”

Xellos raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think one you buy would taste better just because it was acquired honestly?”

“I do,” Filia said firmly. “And we don’t have to just talk about this. I can _prove_ it. I’ll eat your nasty, rotten stolen apple and then I’ll buy one in the shop and we’ll _see_ which one is better.”

“That’ll really show me,” Xellos agreed emphatically.

Filia held the apple up and couldn’t help but look around. She knew Xellos was probably laughing at her on the inside for being paranoid. But what could she say? She’d grown up in the temple! Doing bad things was supposed to automatically earn punishment and she was half-expecting an irate gardener to pop up any second waving a rake in a violent manner.

Filia got herself together and took a bite. Her teeth sank in past the skin and into the flesh of the fruit. Xellos was watching her closely as she did so, which was a very weird feeling. But despite her expectations, the forbidden fruit did not turn to ash in her mouth.

Well, she couldn’t have _really_ expected that, could she? It was still an Edie’s apple even if it was _tainted with sin_. It was delicious: as it was made to be. It was light and its fleshed cleaved easily as though it had no other desire than to be eaten. It was perfectly ripe: neither too hard nor too soft. It had a mouthwatering, slightly honeyed flavor that made not taking a second bite out of the question. And it was juicy—very juicy.

“So…” Xellos began. “It would seem its status as stolen property has diminished none of its flavor.”

Filia looked up from her half-skeletonized apple and narrowed her eyes at him. “You just wait,” she said. “This won’t even compare to an apple bought as the result of rewarding hard work instead of petty thievery.”

But Xellos didn’t appear to be paying much attention to her rather dubious claim. He wasn’t even polite enough to look her in the eyes while she was talking, which irritated Filia when she noticed it. When she realized where he was looking, her irritation turned to panic.

He was staring at her lips.

He reached out his hand toward her, leaning forward as she leaned slightly back. He rested a fingertip gently against her chin and dragged it slowly upwards to the corner of her mouth where the juice from the apple had dripped. He brought his hand back and thoughtfully licked the finger.

“Honey crisp, am I right?” he asked.

“Y-yes,” Filia said, a little too shocked to appreciate the fact that she sounded like an awkward middle-schooler.

He smiled and moved closer to her as she gripped the apple like a chastity belt. His lips closed around hers almost lazily as his hand snaked around her and pressed steadily against her lower back. This was probably a good thing in retrospect or she would’ve fallen off the bench. Her head was already beginning to tilt to one side before she woke up enough to push him off of her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded breathlessly. And angrily. In fact, the anger was the cause of the breathlessness!

Xellos smirked. “I just thought you might have acquired a taste for forbidden fruit,” he said. He waved a finger at her. “I don’t think I was wrong.”

She stared at him. Then she looked down at the apple. Then she glared up at him. She wanted to think of something to say back to him. Maybe some witty insult punning on fruit. Unfortunately she couldn’t think of one.

So she threw the apple at his head, screamed: “Well you _are_ wrong!” and stalked away.

Xellos rubbed his head where the cider-projectile had hit him as he watched her stomp off in a haze of randomized guilt and sexual frustration. _Perhaps_ , he thought to himself, _I need to work a little on my tempting skills._

_…Oh well. Practice makes perfect._


End file.
